The present invention relates to a new and distinctive wheat variety designated W040278H1, which has been the result of years of careful breeding and selection in a comprehensive wheat breeding program. There are numerous steps involving significant technical human intervention in the development of any novel, desirable plant germplasm. Plant breeding begins with the analysis and definition of problems and weaknesses of the current germplasm, the establishment of program goals, and the definition of specific breeding objectives. The next step is selection of germplasm that possess the traits to meet the program goals. The goal is to combine in a single variety an improved combination of desirable traits from the parental germplasm.
These traits may include, but are not limited to higher seed yield, resistance to diseases and/or insects, tolerance to drought and/or heat, altered milling properties, abiotic stress tolerance, improvements in compositional traits, and better agronomic characteristics.
These processes, which lead to the final step of marketing and distribution, can take from approximately six to twelve years of significant technical human intervention starting from the time the first cross is made. Therefore, development of new varieties is a time-consuming process that requires precise forward planning, efficient use of resources, and a minimum of changes in direction. The development of a new variety typically involves the coordinated effort of a team of scientists, including plant breeders, molecular biologists, plant pathologists, entomologists, agronomists, biochemists, bioinformaticians, market analysts, and automation specialists.
Wheat is an important and valuable field crop. Thus, a continuing goal of wheat breeders is to develop stable, high yielding wheat varieties that are agronomically sound. The reasons for this goal are to maximize the amount of grain produced on the land used and to supply food for both animals and humans. To accomplish this goal, the wheat breeder must select and develop wheat plants that have the traits that result in superior varieties.
Wheat is grown worldwide and is the most widely adapted cereal. There are five main wheat market classes. They include the four common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) classes: hard red winter, hard red spring, soft red winter, and white. The fifth class is durum (Triticum turgidum L.). Common wheats are used in a variety of food products such as bread, cookies, cakes, crackers, and noodles. In general the hard wheat classes are milled into flour used for breads and the soft wheat classes are milled into flour used for pastries and crackers. Wheat starch is used in the food and paper industries, as laundry starches, and in other products. Because of its use in baking, the grain quality of wheat is very important. To test the grain quality of wheat for use as flour, milling properties are analyzed. Important milling properties are relative hardness or softness, weight per bushel of wheat (test weight), siftability of the flour, break flour yield, middlings flour yield, total flour yield, flour ash content, and wheat-to-flour protein conversion. Good processing quality for flour is also important. Good quality characteristics for flour from soft wheats include low to medium-low protein content, a low water absorption, production of large-diameter test cookies and large volume cakes. Wheat glutenins and gliadins, which together confer the properties of elasticity and extensibility, play an important role in the grain quality. Changes in quality and quantity of these proteins change the end product for which the wheat can be used.